Abstinence-Education In Schools

Schools all over the United States teach teens about human anatomy, sexual reproduction, abstinence, and some comprehensive methods to avoid unwanted teen pregnancies. Even though most parents agree with schools teaching their children about the consequences of sex, “public discussion indicates that there is little agreement about what forms of sex education should be taught in schools” (Kendall). Many studies bring attention to the fact that while most schools throughout the country teach abstinence-only lessons when it comes to sex education, these lessons do not have much impact on their decisions to have sexual intercourse before marriage. This also means that it does not lower the number of sexually transmitted diseases or infections …show more content…
Support for sex education didn’t really seem to become relevant until the 1900’s. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s local abstinence-only organizations were rather successful in getting school boards accept abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which were, and are, very restricting in the information that they teach young adults. In 1996, however, these programs became extremely successful on the national level and sex education took a turn down Abstinence-Only …show more content…
Parents believe that they can cover the necessary information with the talk when in reality; they cannot cover the number of sexually transmitted diseases and infections, or the other risks that are associated with teens having sexual intercourse without the correct information and protection. During sex education classes, teens should be taught about how to properly use condoms and how to appropriately prepare for the time when they decide that they are ready to be intimate with their significant other. I believe that sex education teachers should go more in depth about the STD’s and STI’s that they can contract from having unprotected sex, and should even go as far as informing students of which STD’s do not have a cure or may eventually be fatal. Students could also benefit from hearing the statistics related to the contraction of STD’s. The CDC states that while “All Americans should have the opportunity to make choices that lead to health and wellness” (National Overview of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s), 2014), they can also take the necessary actions to prevent the spread of STD’s and the consequences that come along with them. At this day in age it is so easy to be lied to about whether or not someone has an STD and I believe that if teens were thoroughly educated on how quickly these diseases spread